That most wonderful time of the year.

John Allen's recent Web column[1] has occasioned some teeth-gnashing among those who want bishops to refuse Communion to prochoice Catholic politicians (see here[2], here[3], and here[4]).

But I wonder what such critics make of the fact that the former mayor of Rome, well known as a prochoice Catholic politician, received Communion from John Paul II. As reported[5] by Melinda Henneberger during the last presidential campaign:

At an Environment 2004 party on Beacon Hill Monday evening I raninto Francesco Rutelli, the popular former mayor of Rome, and asked himabout rumors that he, a pro-choice Catholic of the Italian left, hadnonetheless received communion from Pope John Paul II himself.

"Ohyes, this is true,'' he said, and asked to be walked though thecontroversy in the American Catholic Church, where some bishops havesuggested that pro-choice politicians like John Kerry should be deniedcommunion. "This is very strange for me,'' Rutelli said, "that youcannot be a Christian and also uphold the law of your country.''

"So,this is politics, too?'' he asked of the bishops, wryly suggesting thatperhaps these American prelates were too far from Romeand too close toWashington.